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Kekal, Indonesian Avant-Garde/Experimental Metal Act, Release New Album

By on July 15, 2020

“Quantum Resolution” is the 12th album from Jakarta – Indonesia based Kekal to commemorate its 25th Anniversary as a band. It can be considered as a “concept album” with all the songs relate themselves to the main/central theme, one way or another. The
album possesses a very spiritual nature and the lyrics were written by musician/producer Jeff from what have been revealed continuously during his personal spiritual journey of awakening, or so-called Gnosis. It tells about knowing who we really are (as a species and as Humanity) and where we are going. The lyrics dig with our dark history from a distant past, and also dig into our present time and future as well: what is our role here on Earth, and how do we deal with all the deceptions that are so rampant and very structural encompassing every aspect of life, as we are closing the chapter of our present age.

The music follows every song’s temperament and general mood led by the lyrics. Stylistically, the album follows Kekal’s faithful tradition by utilizing avant-garde and alternative approaches to various expressions of rock, metal and electronic music. A series of music videos (for the songs ”Quiet Eye” and “Zoe”) are also made to highlight the album’s central theme.

Formed in 1995 as a more straight-forward extreme metal band with punk-influenced attitude, Kekal has been venturing deeply into its continuous exploration in creating music for more than two decades. Their 4th album “1000 Thoughts of Violence” (2003) marked the beginning of their journey into the unknown, where they successfully blend their extreme metal basic energy with the enormous amount of progressive experimental elements, but yet somehow—accessible. For Kekal, musical exploration is considered as one important method of self-actualization. Albums such as “1000 Thoughts of Violence”, “Acidity” (2005) and “The Habit of Fire” (2007) eliminate the need for classifications in order for the audience to enjoy listening the music without having to understand it first. Even when people tag the band as progressive metal/rock, avant-garde metal, experimental rock, electronic, or just plain “weird”, none of these labeling could really describe the essence of Kekal’s music.

Kekal is one of the first bands/musicians from Indonesia to gain international presence in the early and mid 2000 by releasing
albums in both North American and European markets, and the first band from Indonesia to tour Europe in March 2004—playing a string of live concerts in Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. Since 2009, Kekal has become a band with no official members, but some of its former members still continue to make new albums for Kekal, albeit as anonymous contributors.

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